136: Chapter 136 The Beauty and Talent of Hengshi Law Academy! Helena!

The Northern Territory, Frostrock Province, Frostwind City.

This city is nestled at the eastern foot of the cold Dorn Mountains and is famous for producing hard Frost Demon Rock.

It houses the long-standing Hengshi Code Academy, which focuses on training in imperial law and documentation.

The academy has a conservative and rigorous atmosphere with strict admission standards, housing many diligent and intelligent commoner students.

In the northeastern corner of the academy, inside a slightly aged but spotlessly clean stone dormitory building.

In a small but tidy four-person room on the third floor, it was currently filled with chattering discussions.

"Have you heard? The area outside the academy is almost packed to bursting! The Morning Dew Chamber of Commerce and two other large trading firms are all setting up booths, just for that so-called beauty pageant for The Count of Gino County!"

A girl named Lucille, holding a basin of hot water she had just fetched from downstairs, shared the news impatiently.

"Heard? I almost couldn't even squeeze back in when I returned just now!"

Another tall girl, Enid, took off her heavy wool coat and said:

"The setup is too huge! The reward is written clearly: ten thousand gold coins for first place!"

"My heavens, my father has been a stonemason his whole life, and I doubt he has ever seen what a hundred gold coins stacked together looks like!"

"The key is that it's all free! As long as you pass that so-called preliminary assessment, all expenses for going to Gino City are covered!"

A third girl, Laila, added while brushing her hair in a palm-sized mirror on the wall, her eyes shining:

"If it weren't for my GPA not meeting the standard last semester, I would have wanted to try it too! A free trip!"

"Forget it, Laila. Even if you met the GPA standard, they wouldn't look at you." Enid unceremoniously punctured the other's fantasy:

"Didn't you see what was written on the notice? You need to have both character and appearance, and also provide a GPA certificate issued by the academy."

"This isn't a beauty pageant; it's practically a civil servant selection! No, the requirements are even higher than that, and you have to be good-looking too!"

The three girls laughed and joked, but their gazes simultaneously and secretly glanced at the figure sitting quietly by the desk near the window.

Helena Payne.

She was wearing the same washed-out grey academy uniform dress as them, sitting quietly and flipping through a worn-edged copy of "Commentary on the General Principles of Imperial Commercial Law."

But even so, she was extremely beautiful.

Her long black hair shimmered with a soft luster in the slanting sunlight, loosely pinned up with the simplest wooden hairpin, with a few stray strands falling against her porcelain-white neck.

Her features were not the type of aggressively striking beauty; rather, every line perfectly interpreted a clear, gentle intellect.

Especially those black eyes, like an ice lake under the clear sky of Frostwind City in winter—clear and tranquil.

However, at this moment, those beautiful eyes seemed to be veiled with a faint layer of melancholy.

Hearing the ten thousand gold coins mentioned by Lucille, subtle ripples immediately stirred in the depths of her eyes.

Her fingers, which were turning the pages, paused almost imperceptibly.

"Lucille," Helena finally raised her head, her voice soft: "Did you just say... if I get first place, I can get ten thousand gold coins?"

"And two thousand gold coins for the top ten? Also, if I pass the preliminary examination, are all expenses covered?"

"Yes, yes!" Seeing Helena take the initiative to ask, Lucille immediately leaned in and spilled the beans: "It's clearly written on the notice! The people from the chamber of commerce are repeating it too!"

"As long as you go there to fill out a form, attend a simple interview, let them check your appearance and manner of speaking, and verify your academy certificate—if you pass and have a high rating, you can get an advance payment voucher on the spot!"

"Food, lodging, and travel expenses are all covered! Helena, with your looks and grades, you would definitely be rated at the highest level!"

Helena listened quietly, her black eyes lowered, her long, dense eyelashes casting a small shadow under her eyelids.

Her slender fingers curled unconsciously, gripping the rough edge of the book page tightly.

Ten thousand gold coins... two thousand gold coins... free... these words struck her heart like heavy hammers.

Her younger brother, Aidan, who was two years her junior, had his right leg broken two weeks ago in a street conflict when he was shoved by a drunken collateral descendant of a baron's family while trying to protect her.

His injury was quite severe now; after a regular physician set the bone, it healed poorly, and the pain was excruciating on rainy days.

Experienced physicians said that it would require an extraordinary individual who mastered life-type spells or possessed healing-type battle aura to intervene, combined with expensive potions, to have any hope of a full recovery without lasting consequences.

But the cost... was an astronomical figure that a commoner family like theirs dared not even imagine.

To treat her brother's injury, her parents had already emptied their family savings, sold all their belongings that were worth anything, and incurred quite a bit of debt.

Returning home this vacation, seeing her parents' exhaustion as they forced smiles, and seeing her brother lying in bed enduring pain with the light in his eyes gradually fading, Helena felt as if her heart was being twisted by a knife.

She studied desperately at the academy, winning the highest-level scholarship almost every year, and usually tried to take on odd jobs like copying and organizing documents...

But... the money she earned was merely a drop in the bucket compared to that huge medical fee.

She had once thought about asking for help from Joshua Knox, a senior from a viscount family who had always shown interest in her.

But the hints in his words and his less-than-generous attitude made her realize that it might require a price she could not afford to pay.

Moreover, he didn't seem to be able to come up with such a large sum of money either.

After all, he was just a noble descendant without inheritance rights, which was why he was studying at this commoner academy.

And now...

"I... I need to think about it. And I need to discuss it with my family." Helena finally said softly, her voice a bit dry.

She put down the book, stood up, and picked up the half-old dark blue wool cloak hanging by the bed.

"Helena, are you going to go ask?" Enid asked.

"Yes, I'll go take a look." Helena nodded, tied the strings of her cloak, and pushed the door open to walk out.

Watching her retreating figure, there was a brief silence in the dormitory.

"Helena... it seems she is truly tempted." Laila put down the mirror and sighed.

"How could she not be tempted? Her family's situation... Aidan's leg..." Lucille also put away her smile and said in a low voice.

"But, going to participate in a beauty pageant... it just feels..." Enid frowned:

"That Count Golden Flame, I hear he is very young, but his actions... are a bit unfathomable. Spending so much money to select a maid or female official is too strange."

"No matter how strange, the gold coins are real." Laila pursed her lips, "It's still better than some people who claim to be dating but actually just want a mistress, and are stingy about it too."

"Senior Joshua has been pursuing Helena for almost a year, right? What's the most valuable gift he's given her? An old poetry book?"

"Alright, stop talking. This is Helena's own choice." Lucille interrupted them:

"However, that said, the requirements for this beauty pageant are really high, needing to look at GPAs and character certificates... it doesn't feel like they're just choosing a vase."

"But in the end, isn't it still about looks? Otherwise, why call it a beauty pageant?" Enid shrugged:

"It's just adding the packaging of knowledge and character to beauty. Helena... sigh, I hope everything goes smoothly for her."

"If she really succeeds, maybe we can go to her for help in the future... That is a real territorial Earl after all!"